KVPY or the Kishore Vaigyanik parotsahaan yojana, is one of the toughest exams in India.
Government of India started KVPY in the year 1999. Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore conducts KVPY every year in the month of November. KVPY is a scholarship-based program funded by the government of India

Elgibility criteria:

This exam has 3 Streams: SA (Class 11), SX (Class 12) and SB(First year BSc). The eligibility criteria varies according to category and stream.
1. The candidate must be of Indian nationality.
2. For SA and SX, students should have a minimum of 75% aggregate marks (65% for SC and ST) in Mathematics and Science subjects in the X standard board examination.
3. Stream SB students should have enrolled in 1st year BSc and must have secured a minimum aggregate of 60% marks in Science subject in the XII standard board examination.

Paper Pattern:

The paper pattern is quite different whereas the difficulty level of paper meets the level of JEE Main. Let’s have a look at the paper pattern for all the three streams of examination.

Examination is divided into 2 parts:
First is the aptitude based test and the second is the interview. The aptitude based test contributes 75% in result whereas the interview part determines the remaining result.

1. SA paper pattern:

• The paper consist of four subjects; Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology. The most important thing to keep in mind is that Biology is not optional for this stream. Students have to opt for both Biology and Mathematics along with Physics and Chemistry.
  • The question paper consists of two sections:
  Section 1: It consists of 15 questions from each subject making it a total of sixty questions. All questions are compulsory.
  For every correct answer, students will be awarded one mark and for every wrong answer one-fourth of 1 mark will be deducted.
  Section 2: It consists of 5 questions from each subject making it a total of twenty questions. All questions are compulsory.
  For every correct answer, students will be awarded 2 marks and for every wrong answer one-fourth of 2 marks will be deducted.

2. SX paper pattern:

• The paper consists of four subjects that is Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology. In this stream, Biology is optional. Students have to opt between Biology and Mathematics along with Physics and Chemistry.
  • The question paper consists of two sections:
  Section 1: It consists of 20 questions from each subject making a total of eighty questions out of which 60 questions are compulsory.
  For every correct answer, students will be awarded one mark and for every wrong answer one-fourth of one mark will be deducted.
  Section 2: It consists of 10 questions from each subject making it a total of forty questions. In this section, you have to opt for any 2 subjects according to your preference.
  For every correct answer, students will be awarded 2 marks and for every wrong answer one-fourth of 2 marks will be deducted.

Syllabus:

KVPY considers NCERT as its syllabus, although their syllabus is vast enough. For SA stream, the biology portion is relatively easier but in the past few years questions were asked from Genetics too. As for a student of class XIth, questions from the class XIIth syllabus makes the paper a bit difficult. Students are suggested to go through both 11th and 12th NCERT thoroughly, irrespective of the stream of the exam.
Physics and Organic Chemistry paper is relatively tough.

Cutoff:

• The cutoff for SA stream for general category students lies between 50-55% and for reserved category students, it lies between 40-45%. About 2000 students are selected from the aptitude test for the interview round. After the interview, around thousand students are selected for the scholarship.
  • For SX stream the cutoff for unreserved students lies between 55 to 60% whereas for reserved category students the cutoff lies between 45-47%.

Note: This data may vary yearly.

Application form prerequisite:

Valid email id, phone number, a photograph with white background and signature are all that is needed.
The cost of form for general and OBC category is ₹1000 and for SC, ST and PWD it is ₹500.

Scholarship:

KVPY provides both monthly and annual scholarship. Scholarship starts from graduate studies.
For BSc. students five thousand per month is given as scholarship and 20,000 as an annual grant for books.
For MSc. students seven thousand per month is given as scholarship and 28,000 as an annual grant for books.

Importance of KVPY:

KVPY helps in building basics for JEE and NEET exams. Appearing for KVPY, helps the students in gathering experience about the competitive exams and handling exam pressure. KVPY scholars can take admission in IISC Bangalore, one of the most reputed colleges in India.

A report by Shekhar by IHOIK education desk